Lowrance Electronics is perhaps best known for its fishing and marine equipment, such as depth recorders, fish finders, and marine GPS devices. Now the company is introducing a line of automotive, voice-prompted, turn-by-turn GPS devices, and they're definitely worth some attention. In fact, we liked the iWAY 500C ($800 street) so much we've awarded it an Editors' Choice.

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This impressive unit has one of the largest screens we've seen among aftermarket GPS products; it measures 5 inches diagonally, with a 320-by-320, 256-color display, and is bright and readable even in direct sunlight. The device itself is 6.1 by 4.5 by 2.2 inches and weighs in at slightly over 2 pounds, excluding the mounting brackets. It's completely sealed and watertight (as one might well expect given the company's roots).

A built-in 20GB hard drive stores the unit's map data; one 10GB partition houses the NAVTEQ map database that provides the data and turn-by-turn routing directions for locations throughout the United States and Canada; and the other 10GB partition is available for your MP3 files. That's right: The iWAY 500C integrates a very functional built-in MP3 player.

Five buttons arranged vertically along the right edge of the unit provide control over basic functions, including Power/Backlighting, a Map/Music toggle, Speak/Volume control, and the Find and Main menus. All other input is done via a touch-screen interface. Users can choose from among three map display formatsnorth up, route direction (here the map is rotated so that your current direction is pointing toward the top of the screen), or 3D route direction.

Screen settings are comprehensive and easy to manipulate. You can choose which data elements appear on screen (distance to turn, time to turn, speed, altitude, and so on), as well their size (small, medium, large, or enormousyes, that's really a choice) and position. You can also choose the transparency level for the on-screen data elements (they can be opaque, blocking the map data below, or transparent enough to see the map data through them). A Collapse button on the lower right-hand side of the screen will even clear the map of data elements and just show the map.

There is an extensive Points of Interest (POIs) database on board the GPS partition, which you can limit by a category filter. You also have a choice of finding a POI either by name or by the location closest to your current position. For the most frequently used POIs (gas, lodging, and restaurants), there are three dedicated POI buttons on the find menu. This makes it extremely easy to find the nearest gas station, for example. You merely press the Find button to enter the Find menu, touch Find Fuel, then select the nearest button.

The iWAY 500C has three slider controls that allow you to adjust route preferences. You decide whether you want to use or avoid interstates, toll roads, and right or left turns. In our on-road navigation tests, the iWAY 500C performed quite well. We left the route preferences set at the factory defaults, and the device calculated the same routes for the destinations we selected as the other two turn-by-turn GPS devices we used for comparison (a Navman iCN 635 and a Toyota factory-installed system).

As we approached a turn, we got an audible prompt, and the screen shifted to a Turn Preview mode. In this mode, the distance to turn, turn direction arrow, and printed instructions (see the slide show) all were displayed in large bold type, making the change in direction easy to view .

There are a couple of features we liked on the Navman iCN 635 that are missing here. For instance, while the iWAY does have a great 3D view, it lacks the ability to adjust the actual bird's-eye map viewing angle (from say a view at an almost vertical angle to one more horizontal) that's available in the Navman product. The iCN 635 also allowed you a choice of navigation command voices that is not present on the iWAY. The Lowrance product does, however, have one feature we haven't seen on other GPS devices: While in the Map view, if you touch the screen and drag open a box, the device automatically zooms in and defines that area in greater detail.

The built-in MP3 player is quite a bonussomething we haven't seen previously in any other aftermarket automotive GPS device. Loading your music files is as simple as connecting the GPS via a USB cable to your PC. After you do that, the available 10GB partition shows up as an additional hard drive; you then just drag and drop your MP3 directories onto the GPS's hard drive. The MP3 player recognizes ID3 tags, so the artist name, album name, track title, track number, playing time, and encoding speed are displayed as the selection plays. Playlist management is fairly basic, though: You can select directory trees or even the entire partition to play or shuffle, but such advanced features as playing by artist, genre, and the like remain the province of dedicated MP3 players.

In-car power is supplied to the device using a cigarette lighter plug. A speaker attached to this power cable delivers voice navigation commands, as well as music playback. Higher-quality playback can be achieved if your car stereo system has an Aux input. Combine this with an audio cable and you can connect the MP3 player to your in-vehicle sound system. In addition, Lowrance supplies a beefy AC power supply with a cigarette-lighter receptacle, so that you can plug in the iWAY 500C at home and transfer music files from your computer. There's also a headphone (line-out) jack on the speaker that's connected to the lighter plug; with it, you can attach an RF modulator to play the tunes back through an FM radio.

The iWAY 500C comes with a heavy-duty suction cup and two ball-and-socket brackets, and a quick disconnect clip so you can quickly remove the device when getting out of your car. Optional accessories include a remote antenna and a motorcycle handlebar mount.

This fall Lowrance will introduce the iWAY 700C, with a 7-inch diagonal screen ($1,600 estimated street price) and the iWAY 800C, with a 10.4-inch screen ($2,000 estimated street price).

With its comprehensive feature set, large screen size, and ease of use, combined with a low price, the iWAY 500C is a sure winner.

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